'M.O.B Ties': How Mike Macdonald has reset Seahawks' culture - ESPN

RENTON, Wash. — In the fourth quarter of the Seattle Seahawks' 26-0 win over the Vikings on Nov. 30, Minnesota guard Blake Brandel delivered a helmet-to-helmet hit on Josh Jobe at the end of a play, briefly sending the cornerback into the concussion protocol. Seahawks defensive tackle Brandon Pili jumped to Jobe's defense, leveling Brandel to the turf.

«That's the beauty of this team,» defensive lineman Leonard Williams told reporters during his weekly news conference three days later, «we're going to have each other's back.… We're going to fight for each other if we have to.»

Retaliating on behalf of a teammate is hardly uncommon in the NFL. What made this different was how Williams volunteered to help Pili pay a potential league fine (he didn't receive one), and what the veteran was wearing when he did so — a Seahawks-branded T-shirt that read «M.O.B. TIES.»

As in, «Mission Over Bulls---.»

You may have heard Mike Macdonald or a Seahawks player reference one of their new mottos, which is written on the team-issued shirt Williams is wearing, «M.O.B. ties.»

M.O.B. = Mission Over BS. https://t.co/rbWRmXDCfT

The sequence offered a glimpse into the environment that Mike Macdonald has built in two seasons as Seattle's head coach.

Inside team headquarters, culture is far from a nebulous concept. It's spelled out in acronyms and mottos that are written on walls and printed on team-issued apparel. It's evident in how the Seahawks play and how they talk about the connectedness of their locker room. And as they see it, it's been no small factor in their jump from a 10-win team that fell short of the playoffs in Macdonald's debut season to one that now looks like a Super Bowl contender.

When the Seahawks host the Los Angeles Rams